Using Ice to Play with Your Toddlers
When parents play with their children, they usually teach their kids to recognize flashcards of letters and numbers, sing the alphabet song, or read stories. As time goes on, they will feel bored and uninterested. So today, the article will introduce you to some simple and interesting sensory games for you and your children to play.
Sensory games are games that activate and stimulate children's senses. When children are very young, they interact with the world mainly through touch, taste, hearing, vision, and smell. Sensory games can help them grow. For example, it can help build neural connections in the brain. Children will slowly understand complex tasks and ideas. Or it can help to improve hands-on ability, develop language skills, contribute to cognitive growth, cultivate observation skills, encourage thinking and problem solving, etc. There are so many benefits. Let's learn how to play.
Game 1: Ice Cube Mazes
Materials to be prepared:
- Shallow and big containers
- Dry erase markers
- Ice cubes
Photo credit: CBC
First, flip the transparent container and draw a maze at the bottom of the container using the dry erase marker. Mark the start and end points. Or you can prepare multiple transparent containers and draw mazes of different difficulty for your toddlers to go through. The path width of the maze should be greater than the width of the ice. And toddlers can move ice through the maze by hand.
Photo credit: CBC
Another way to play is if your children are older, you can improve the difficulty of the game. Let them hold the container with both hands, swing back and forth, guide the ice through the maze, and see who can reach the destination in the shortest time.
Game 2: Use Ice Cubes to Write
Materials to be prepared:
- Shallow and big containers
- Dry erase markers
- Ice cubes
Photo credit: CBC
For the second game, turn the container upside down, and write a word at the bottom. Then you can teach your toddlers to recognize letters and words and guide them to get ice cubes and follow the shape of letters to write the words. You can teach your children to write his/her name, the letters of the alphabet, and the numbers. Toddlers can learn words, letters, and numbers in a new way, not just through cards and books.
In summer, you can imagine how cool it is, for you and your toddlers to use ice to play sensory games. In general, sensory games are really a good game choice for young children, and the preparation of game materials is also very simple. Containers and markers can be found at home, and you have two ways to make ice at home, the first option is to make ice cubes in ice trays in advance, or if you have an ice maker at your home, there will be ice at any time.